Scaled lattice fermion fields, stability bounds, and regularity

Abstract

We consider locally gauge-invariant lattice quantum field theory models with locally scaled Wilson-Fermi fields in d = 1, 2, 3, 4 spacetime dimensions. The use of scaled fermions preserves Osterwalder-Seiler positivity and the spectral content of the models (the decay rates of correlations are unchanged in the infinite lattice). In addition, it also results in less singular, more regular behavior in the continuum limit. Precisely, we treat general fermionic gauge and purely fermionic lattice models in an imaginary-time functional integral formulation. Starting with a hypercubic finite lattice Λ⊂(aZ)d, a ∈ (0, 1], and considering the partition function of non-Abelian and Abelian gauge models (the free fermion case is included) neglecting the pure gauge interactions, we obtain stability bounds uniformly in the lattice spacing a ∈ (0, 1]. These bounds imply, at least in the subsequential sense, the existence of the thermodynamic (Λ ↗ (aZ)d) and the continuum (a ↘ 0) limits. Specializing to the U(1) gauge group, the known non-intersecting loop expansion for the d = 2 partition function is extended to d = 3 and the thermodynamic limit of the free energy is shown to exist with a bound independent of a ∈ (0, 1]. In the case of scaled free Fermi fields (corresponding to a trivial gauge group with only the identity element), spectral representations are obtained for the partition function, free energy, and correlations. The thermodynamic and continuum limits of the free fermion free energy are shown to exist. The thermodynamic limit of n-point correlations also exist with bounds independent of the point locations and a ∈ (0, 1], and with no n! dependence. Also, a time-zero Hilbert-Fock space is constructed, as well as time-zero, spatially pointwise scaled fermion creation operators which are shown to be norm bounded uniformly in a ∈ (0, 1]. The use of our scaled fields since the beginning allows us to extract and isolate the singularities of the free energy when a ↘ 0.